WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

One reason North Park is doing so well is the wide distribution of scoring ability on their roster.
Eight Vikings have scored in double figures (season high is shown) : Jayla J (26), Emily C (21), Lauren L (19), Zakiya N (14), Josie S (14), Sinead M (13), Angelina V (13), Lauryn A G (10).

[Gregory Sager]

By the way, welcome to these pages, Peter.
There are likely variations among the coaches' approaches to this issue.
The formula I proposed a year ago disregarded non-conference play. The gist of it was that a team is automatically granted one all-CCIW spot if it won 5-8 conference games, two if it won 9-13, three if it won 14-16. That came from 72 total conference wins / 16 all-CCIW spots = 4.5; there would be leftover open spots to vote on. That formula, although nearly brilliant, was summarily rejected by our fellow writers.

[RogK]

such a lack of disrespect !

[Mr. Ypsi]

Somewhat surprisingly, the Pioneers led the Titans, 16-15, after 1Q.  The the earth resumed its normal rotation, and the Titans opened up a big lead by taking Q2, 23-9.  For those refusing to do the math, at the half it's IWU 38, Carroll 25.

[Gregory Sager]

Hannah Frazier looks like she doesn't want to give up her MOP status. She has 20 after three quarters at Faganel.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Final in Bloomington:  IWU 73, Carroll 57.  Carroll refused to give up (and played the Titans almost dead even in the 2nd half), but they could never cut the deficit to single digits all half.

[Gregory Sager]

Wow, Wheaton really dodged a bullet today. Elmhurst came roaring back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 54-54 with 3:54 to go. Wheaton then pulled back out to a seven-point lead, but the 'jays wouldn't go away. After two clutch treys brought them back to within one at 61-60, the 'jays had an opportunity to go ahead in the final half-minute. But they couldn't work a good open look, thanks to some solid D by Wheaton, and Marissa Urso's trey attempt from the right corner was too strong. Hannah Swider rebounded for WC and hit a pair of throws, but the 'jays had one more shot left. Sophia Lathe attempted a fadeaway trey from the left elbow that would've forced overtime, but it rimmed out, and the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance escaped Faganel with a nail-biting win.

Live stats had Hannah Frazier finishing with 25 for Wheaton.

[RogK]

Looking at the stats of IWU's 73-57 win over Carroll :
the Titan starting five of Lansford, Shanks, Munroe, Brovelli, Sosa all scored in double figures, up to 13. Sosa had 3 steals, 5 assists. Brovelli had 3 blocks, 4 assists, 9 rebs. Catie Eck had 3 blocks and 2 steals.
Carroll got 10 pts, 5 assists, 2 stls from Emily Majerus. Elizabeth Behrndt grabbed 12 rebs and 4 steals. Looks like Alyssa Cruz was out injured; hopefully she can play again soon.

[Gregory Sager]

North Central 63
North Park 59

[RogK]

some stats from the 63-60 Thunder edging of the Bluejays :
Hannah Frazier 25 pts; Hannah Williams 6 assists; Kirsten Madsen 12 pts; Jill Berg 7 pts 8 rebs in 14:00.
For ELM, 13 pts each by Becca Gerke and Courtney O'Donnell; 3 steals each by Gerke, Marissa Urso and Kelly Weyhrich.

[Gregory Sager]

NCC 63, NPU 59

Jayla Johnson: 25 pts, 10 rebs, 3 stls
Zakiya Newsome: 10 pts
Jacki Rapp: 4:1 a:to
Angelina Villasin: 3:1 a:to

Natali Dimitrovich: 17 pts
Maya Walls: 11 pts, 8 rebs
Rebekah Foley: 10 pts, 6 rebs, 3 blks

One of the things that a team has to do to be champions is to show up every night ready to play their A game. None of the current Vikings have ever been in this position all alone atop the standings before, and this was their lesson for today. Since NPU didn't bring it this afternoon, the Vikings ended up learning the lesson the hard way against a stubborn North Central team in the airplane hangar. I was worried that there would be a hangover from Wednesday's big win, especially because NCC had had a bye on Wednesday and thus had a full week to prepare for the Vikings, and it did look like the Vikings were groping for the hair of the dog that bit them at the offensive end. They began the game by shooting everything short, and ended it by blowing lots of layups. In between they never managed to get going offensively, although Jayla Johnson did find her stroke and ended up having a really solid outing. The Cardinals played tough defense, but there were still plenty of open looks for the Vikings -- and they just wouldn't go down.

At the defensive end there was too much playing defense with the hands, not enough with the feet by NPU. Natali Dimitrova and Maya Walls gave the Vikings headaches inside, inducing lots of fouls on Vikings bigs and getting a whole bunch of and-one opportunities. Overall, NCC played like a team that knows it doesn't have a playoff spot secured and is willing to do whatever it takes in order to claim one. NPU played like a team that looked like it didn't know how to play with a lead, either game-wise or standings-wise.

I'm hoping that the Vikings got their wake-up call today. They're going to need one, because the fact of the matter is, first place or not, they do not have really much of a gap in talent at all between them and everybody else. That gap is thin, at best, and arguably doesn't even exist, at worst. The Vikings need to work efficiently and effectively every time that they take the floor in order to win, and they did not do that today.

[RogK]

I watched some of the NP-NC webcast, but more of the Millikin at Augie game. Greg, did NP test NC's ballhandling with some fullcourt defense at all? I was expecting that, but didn't see it.
I did notice that we had a correspondent on the scene, who may tell us what that was when a fan got to midcourt to presumably complain about something. I think Illinois has a state law specifically protecting refs. It was extremely unwise of that person (she?) to advance onto the court.

[RogK]

Augie's Mia Lambert hit a late-4th-quarter 3 to tie things, but Millikin won the OT, taking the contest 66-60.
Millikin got 16 pts (.615 eFG%) 7 rebs, 6 assists from Abby Ratsch. Jordan Hildebrand had 13 pts, 9 rebs. Other Big Blue players helped in a variety of ways.
Lauren Hall had 18 rebs for Augie. Alexis Jones seized 15 boards, to go along with her 13 pts and 3 steals.
Mia Lambert finished with 11 pts.
Jeni Crain had a nice or sharp game (maybe both!) scoring 18 via .643 eFG% and had 6 rebs.

[RogK]

with 2/3 of conference play done :
9-2 NPU
8-3 WHE
7-3 IWU
6-5 MIL
5-5 NCC -- I thought they were more or less kaput earlier in the season
5-6 AUG
3-7 CTG
3-8 CRL
2-9 ELM

[Gregory Sager]

I watched some of the NP-NC webcast, but more of the Millikin at Augie game. Greg, did NP test NC's ballhandling with some fullcourt defense at all? I was expecting that, but didn't see it.

NPU did go to the press in the first half in order to change things up and get an energy burst after a slow start, but the Vikings didn't stay with it. The Cardinals did a good job of breaking it, so it didn't really affect anything. NPU did catch and surpass NCC at the end of the half, but the Vikings did that with halfcourt play.

I did notice that we had a correspondent on the scene, who may tell us what that was when a fan got to midcourt to presumably complain about something. I think Illinois has a state law specifically protecting refs. It was extremely stupid of that person (she?) to advance onto the court.

It was truly bizarre. I've never seen anything like that before. Incidentally, that gray-haired woman who went out onto the floor and yelled at the ref? Never seen her before.